Sage Monarch (Sage Emperor)

The Lord of the Sword Dao wouldn’t just let Yang Qi go. The moment his sneak attack had failed, he realized that Yang Qi wasn't the type to be frightened easily. Furthermore, here in the Halls of Heaven, Yang Qi had the advantage. Worse, the Lord of the Sword Dao was limited to being able to act within this hall of bronze. He was stuck.

The vital energy in here was weaker than outside, and there were no spell formations to worry about.

“You want to fight me, Lord of the Sword Dao? And you say all the other God-Lords will do the same? Good. I want that. That way I can subjugate the lot of you, one after another. Remember, I've combined the God Legion Seal with the Mahātmā Jade, which means you can’t escape me.”

Yang Qi’s words were immeasurable domineering.

Even though the Lord of the Sword Dao was down on his luck right now, he was still as overbearing as ever. And his own unique style was what made his dao.

Yang Qi also had his own style. For one thing, he was the successor of the Sovereign Lord, and had his aura. But he was also different from the Sovereign Lord. The Sovereign Lord had sought to conquer everything in existence, while Yang Qi’s ultimate goal was actually to make life better for everyone.

That was the dao of the sage monarch.

The dao of sages was to make everything better, and the dao of monarchs was to conquer. Sage inside, monarch outside.

The Sovereign Lord had only followed the dao of monarchs. His way was to conquer, conquer some more, and then keep conquering.

Yang Qi had his sage monarch magistrates, who had changed what it meant to subjugate people. His empire was a wonderful place, a place of order that lacked any impurities, a place where everyone belonged.

The Lord of the Sword Dao had his dao, and Yang Qi had his as well. Right now, they were engaged in a clash of psyche and will, and although the Lord of the Sword Dao had been an outstanding figure among the God-Lords of old, that didn’t mean Yang Qi was afraid of him.

Any who tried to stop him, he would kill or subjugate.

No one could impede his godly might, not even the Lord of the Sword Dao.

“Make your move,” Yang Qi said with a beckoning gesture. “You attacked me from behind, which earned you the fate of becoming my servant. Nobody is going to come along and save you.” Yang Qi wasn’t interested in wasting words, and in fact, was curious to see what the Lord of the Sword Dao’s cultivation base was really like.

“No problem.”

SWISH!

The Lord of the Sword Dao immediately unleashed a succession of three sword moves, and if nothing else, they were devastatingly powerful. The first move caused an enormous gully to appear in Yang Qi’s mind, which filled with rippling sword energy, creating an Unbounded Sword River.

It was filled with countless swords of all shapes and sizes, and it sliced into his sea of consciousness with enigmatic power.

This was a sword that didn’t cause any outside fluctuations. It pierced right to the soul to destroy a person at their core.

It was a sword of the heart.

Belief existed in the heart, and one could use this sword to pierce that heart.

King Life-Killer had used a sword of killing, and Star Swordlife had used a sword of life. But the Lord of the Sword Dao used a sword of the heart, and could use it to pierce his enemy’s heart in the most flawless fashion.

Yang Qi responded in a flash, his body and soul transforming into concentric circles that fluctuated out at rapid speed. They were the fluctuations of kalpas and tribulations.

All of a sudden, the Unbounded Sword River collapsed into fragments.

“Four Directions!”

The Lord of the Sword Dao shifted tactics. His expression lonesome, he sent his sword speeding out in four directions, causing everything around them to collapse.

Winds sprang up from the four directions, and Yang Qi felt himself surrounded by sword light, crushing down on him as if to seal him. In fact, the fluctuations of tribulations and kalpas started to calm.

“Son of Heaven Defends the Nation’s Gate!”

Suddenly, he switched to a fist strike, punching out with the Nation-Fate Godfist. Use the dao of heaven to fight the dao of men, use the dao of men to crush the dao of heaven.

The more powerful the national destiny, the stronger the Nation-Fate Godfist, and right now, Yang Qi had access to incredible destiny. In fact, it was so strong that it shattered the surrounding sword light, turning it into nothing but ash.

Unexpectedly, the Lord of the Sword Dao took three steps backward. Despite having a psychic scale of a hundred billion, he had been shoved back by Yang Qi, or more specifically, by the power of his destiny.

Yang Qi had such powerful destiny that he could reduce most experts to dust. Meanwhile, the Lord of the Sword Dao didn’t have any destiny at all. He could only rely on his own personal strength, so how could he possibly fight against Yang Qi?

It had taken billions of years for the three dynasties to reach their current state, and Yang Qi was at almost half their level. Just what kind of destiny was that? And what exactly was it capable of? The Lord of the Sword Dao had a strong cultivation base, and walked his own orthodox dao. In order to reach the half Annulled level, he had to leave this place and found his own empire devoted to the dao of the sword. But would that happen?

“Sovereign and State Die Together!” Yang Qi said, unleashing another fist strike. Numerous projections sprang up, representing the people the emperor ruled over, as well as the ministers and nobility. As a result, it unleashed mountain-toppling, sea-draining force that few people could possibly counter.

Whack. Whack. Whack!

He unleashed a series of punches that smashed into the sword light, shoving the Lord of the Sword Dao relentlessly backward and quickly putting him on the defensive.

However, Yang Qi could see that, despite how he had seized the upper hand in the fight, the Lord of the Sword Dao wasn’t actually hurt. He was waiting for the right moment to turn the tables and deliver a killing blow. The man was clearly profound on many levels, and it seemed unlikely that Yang Qi could kill him.

Thankfully, Yang Qi had an unending supply of destiny to support him, so much that no one could possibly compare to him.

His empire was so powerful that no individual person could do anything to it.

“Blood Stains Spring and Autumn!”

Yang Qi’s moves were impossible for the Lord of the Sword Dao to avoid. He couldn’t flee, and they were forced to fight in very tight quarters.

Out in the open, the Lord of the Sword Dao would have had a lot of options, but here in the Halls of Heaven, Yang Qi had a clear advantage.

The time was right. The conditions were favorable. And Yang Qi had the upper hand.

“Now that you’ve seen me use my destiny, Lord of the Sword Dao, you can see how powerful my empire is. Furthermore, I have the advantage here in the Halls of Heaven. I can back out of the fight any time I want, and step out to where you can't strike at me. Remember, I've already assimilated that piece of the Mahātmā Jade. Maybe I can't win this fight, but I can't lose it either. Maybe you could fight me on the outside, and maybe even hurt my empire. But right here, you can't do anything. Do you really think you have what it takes to win?”

Yang Qi was trying to strike a blow to his confidence.

Unfortunately, it didn't work. The Lord of the Sword Dao simply dodged the attacks, moving as fluidly as water. He wasn’t the type of person who would get flustered in a fight, and would remain calm and cool no matter what.

“This fight is like nothing compared to what I’ve experienced in life. Remember, young friend, I've fought the Sovereign Lord and the King of Godmammoths. You weren’t even alive back then.” The Lord of the Sword Dao spoke as calmly as if they weren’t even fighting, but were instead having tea together. At the same time, he unleashed occasional jabs with his sword, probing Yang Qi’s weaknesses and forcing him to go on the defensive.

To Yang Qi, he seemed like a monster who couldn’t be harmed. It almost seemed pointless to fight him.

“Strength of the Hell-Crushing Godmammoth!”

In that moment, he chose to use his top technique, the Strength of the Hell-Crushing Godmammoth. And he resorted directly to the Fist of the Halls of Heaven.

That move relied on the godly might of the Halls of Heaven, and right now, he was right in the middle of those halls! Immediately, the energy of the halls rushed toward him, and as it did, the damage done to his surroundings was repaired.

In a shocking twist, Yang Qi was using the Fist of the Halls of Heaven to actually repair this area, in order to completely trap the Lord of the Sword Dao.

The Halls of Heaven were like a desert to the Lord of the Sword Dao, whereas this hall of bronze was like an oasis. And the Lord of the Sword Dao was a fish in a pool of water in that oasis. But if Yang Qi removed the oasis, the Lord of the Sword Dao would be stuck in the middle of that desert with no other option than to simply die.

“Do you recognize this, Lord of the Sword Dao? It’s the Fist of the Halls of Heaven. I bet you never would have guessed that I could use this move.” Yang Qi was like a giant who could call on the might of the surrounding halls, causing it to whip about like storm winds.

CRASH!

The main entrance had previously been half-broken, but thanks to the influx of vital energy, it was rapidly forming anew.

“Fist of the Halls of Heaven?!” the Lord of the Sword Dao said, although there wasn’t a scrap of fear in his voice. Instead, he brandished his sword and said, “One Sword to Destroy Nations; A Million Royal Defenders; Slaughter Everything in Existence!”

RUMBLE!

A river of sword might swept forth as the fighting reached a fever pitch. The Lord of the Sword Dao was finally revealing what he was capable of.

If Yang Qi was a nation whose might couldn’t be challenged, then the Lord of the Sword Dao was a single swordsman who could kill a million troops, and single-handedly wreck a nation, up to its highest leaders.

BAM!

A massive explosion ripped through the area.

Yang Qi’s destiny shattered, and the repair to the surrounding bronze hall ceased. At the same time, a stream of sword energy suddenly surged as if to break out into the Halls of Heaven in general.